Based on a Passerby's Experience, One Can See How Much the Chinese Communist Party is Scared of Falun Gong Practitioners

On January 14th, 2007, I was walking along the dike in Yujiatou, Yangyuan District, Wuhan City, when it started raining lightly. I found a pavilion with benches, so I went in to avoid getting soaked by the rain. All of a sudden, several people ran out of the 3-story building across the street, which was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. They interrogated me and called the police emergency hotline for officers to arrest me. They took me to the police station, and that afternoon, I was able to leave the police station. Afterwards, I heard that this building was the Yangyuan brainwashing centre, a place for holding Falun Gong practitioners. The following describes what happened that day.

I was sitting in the pavilion at around 8 a.m. About ten minutes later, two men and four women rushed out of the building with the barbed wire. They wore civilian clothes, though one looked like a security guard. One of them claimed to be a policeman. He asked people in the pavilion who they were and requested to see their identification cards. He said into his cell phone, "There are quite a few Falun Gong practitioners here. Get a car and come here quickly. Let's block both sides of the street and arrest all of them." I saw that it wasn't raining anymore, and started to walk out of the pavilion. Just then, three men and four women surrounded me. They accused me of wanting to leave to notify other practitioners and wanted to arrest me.

They asked me what I was doing there. I told them that I was just walking by. They wanted to see my identification card. I said: "You don't have the right to do so." They asked why. I said, "I haven't broken any laws. Which Chinese law says that a person is not allowed to walk down the street? Is there a sign on the street that says this street should not be trespassed?" I then tried to leave. One of the plain-clothes policemen grabbed me, and the other one tried to pull my hands behind my back. While I was struggling with them, my sleeve was torn. They pulled me back into the pavilion. One of them pushed his elbow against my chest and forced me to stand by one of the columns. They surrounded me and asked me to cooperate with them and tell them my name. They said, "What's the use of you sending forth righteous thoughts? You're still here." I didn't say a word. Then they insinuated that I was trying to inform other practitioners of what was happening there. I asked them whether they have any evidence. They didn't know what to say and threatened me, "We have the power to arrest you." I told them seriously, "This is against the law."

About an hour later, they asked the police to come. Shortly afterwards, two policemen arrived and asked me what happened. I told them that I was just walking by. Since it was raining, I walked into the pavilion to wait for the rain to stop. I said that those people had choked me, torn my clothes, and pinned me to the column. The policemen said, "I don't care about that. I need to check your ID card." I said, "You don't have the right. This is unbelievable!" The policeman said, "I suspect that you have done something wrong." I said, "I have suspicions about you, too. You're creating instability in society. There wasn't any crime committed here, yet you suspect me and want to arrest me. You're creating an incident and helping to make society unstable." He said, "I'm trying to carry out orders. You didn't cooperate with us, and that's hindering official business. I have to carry out the order." I told him, "You're kidnapping me!" He said, "What is kidnapping?" I said, "I didn't break any law. Yet you're using force to take me away. This is kidnapping." Two policemen, one on each side of me, pulled me from the top of the dike to the bottom, past the railway, and into a police car. In the car, I told the policemen, "You guys are so pitiful. You're still helping bad people to do bad deeds. You won't even leave a 60-year-old alone."

When we arrived at the police station, it was already noon. The policemen went to have lunch. They didn't care whether I was hungry or not. One policeman said, "Sit still. Don't move." I said, "I should not sit here. I should go home." Another policeman said, "Now we're nice. Some time ago we would have used electric batons on you." I sat there for a while. All the policemen that were watching me left. I could see that there were three policemen in the on-duty room. I walked out of the front door and hopped on a bus.

I later reflected on the whole incident and these are my thoughts:

1. If a policeman suspects a person, he can arrest that person at will. There is no such law in the world, not even in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) isn't following the rule of law. How could they talk about governing the country by the law?

2. Based on their conversation, they're targeting Falun Gong practitioners. But I couldn't understand why they are so scared of Falun Gong practitioners passing by the brainwashing centre. Why do they need to arrest them? They even suspect bystanders. Why are these places so heavily guarded? Besides, Falun Gong practitioners are a group of nice people who are not out to cause trouble. What's wrong with them passing by this place?

Is the problem that those practitioners want to tell people about the persecution? Is that why the authorities are so scared of them? I think so. Is it because they don't want people to know about the persecution? They are hiring thugs to do these bad things secretly. For example, they call the brainwashing centre the "Judicial Education Centre." They are afraid to hang a sign outside it. Inside they are carrying out brutal, inhumane torture. Is that what they are afraid of?

3. There is still a small group of people who do not know the truth and are fooled and poisoned by the CCP's lies. Some people are only after self-interest and will do anything for money. Many people understand the CCP's evil nature now and won't be fooled by them anymore. The fact that I could leave the police station without any trouble shows that many policemen know the truth and don't want to be the CCP's helpers. I remember how a well-known person once said: "You can deceive a group of people for some time, but you can't deceive them forever."